Photo credit: Smartmatic

It looks like Roger Piñate, the founder and president of Smartmatic, has landed himself in some pretty hot water. A federal grand jury in South Florida just indicted him on charges of foreign corruption and money laundering.

The story? Piñate, who’s based in Boca Raton, Florida, along with Jorge Miguel Vasquez, the former vice president of hardware development at Smartmatic, are accused of bribing their way into securing lucrative election contracts in the Philippines.

Here’s the scoop: Back in 2016, Piñate and Vasquez allegedly paid a hefty $1 million in bribes to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, the former chairman of the Philippines’ Commission on Elections. The goal? To lock in contracts for providing voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippine elections—contracts worth a staggering $199 million.

But it didn’t stop there. According to the U.S. Justice Department, these guys got pretty creative in covering their tracks. They’re accused of inflating the cost per voting machine and then using that extra cash to fuel a slush fund, which they used to make the illegal payments. And, of course, they didn’t just wire the money directly. Instead, they allegedly laundered it through bank accounts scattered across Asia, Europe, and even the United States.

If that wasn’t enough drama, this whole investigation reportedly kicked off after Bautista’s wife blew the whistle. In the middle of their divorce, she alerted the Philippine authorities to the fact that her husband had about one billion Philippine Pesos (roughly $20 million) in unexplained wealth. Ouch.

So, what’s next? Piñate and his crew are facing some serious jail time—up to 20 years if convicted on all charges. And let’s not forget the ongoing drama with Smartmatic, which is still dealing with fallout from false accusations about its role in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The company is currently embroiled in a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, with another similar case lined up against Newsmax.

Smartmatic, for its part, is trying to keep its distance, noting that no voter fraud has been alleged, and the company itself hasn’t been indicted. However, this scandal could still cast a long shadow over the company’s reputation and the integrity of elections worldwide.